Alison Jayne Merrien (born 28 November 1974) is an indoor bowls player from

Saint Peter Port St. Peter Port () is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. Peter Port is a small tow ...

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

. She reached a career high ranking of world number 11 in June 2024.

Bowls career

By virtue of winning her national title she qualified to represent Guernsey at the

World Singles Champion of Champions The World Singles Champion of Champions is an event inaugurated in 2003 that is contested annually between bowlers who have won their respective national singles title. The event was first held in 2003 at the Moama Bowling Club in Moama, Austra ...

in 2007 where she defeated Siti Zalina Ahmad in the final to win the gold medal. Merrien won double gold in the women's singles defeating Karen Murphy and the mixed pairs with Simon Skelton the 2011 World Indoor Bowls Championship. She won a third medal eight years later in 2019 losing out to Julie Forrest of Scotland in the final. In 2022, she finally claimed a third title when winning the mixed pairs with Paul Foster and also reached the women's singles final. She also reached the mixed pairs final in 2023. In the southern hemisphere equivalent the World Cup Singles she has won two titles in 2008 and 2012 and has finished runner up on three more occasions. In 2022, Merrien won the mixed pairs at the inaugural

World Bowls Indoor Championships The World Bowls Indoor Championships is bowls event inaugurated in 2019 by the organisations known as World Bowls and the International Indoor Bowls Council (IIBC). It is contested annually between bowlers from national bowls organisations. The ...

, partnering Stewart Anderson, they defeated Michael Stepney and Claire Anderson in the final. In addition she has claimed three IIBC singles titles in 2009, 2011 & 2015 and the mixed pairs Championship in 2001 and 2004. Nationally she has won the British Isles Indoor Women's Singles Championship in 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2015 and the British Isles Indoor Women's Pairs Championship in 2015

Awards

Merrien was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for services to bowls in the 2012 New Year Honours, and is married to Ian Merrien who is also a successful bowls player.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrien, Alison 1974 births Living people Guernsey female bowls players Members of the Order of the British Empire Indoor Bowls World Champions People from Saint Peter Port